Page 128 of Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds

—Suzanne Collins,The Hunger Games

Jason was right: a boat came for us just after dawn the next morning while we were eating the dessert we hadn’t gotten to the night before. Dessert for breakfast was the perfect end to the best night I had ever had in my life.

The ferry captain, Eli, was piloting a speedboat. We came out onto the deck and waved at him. Eli wasn’t alone. Tristan and Kalise were both with him.

I wore my bikini under a St. Claire polo shirt Jason had found for me, and I—straitlaced, good-girl Mia Crawford—wasn’t even embarrassed. I didn’t regret one minute of last night, and judging by the very energetic way Jason had woken me up this morning, neither did he.

“What happened?” Tristan asked as he and Kalise boarded the boat. They both looked concerned, as if Jason was their son who had been out all night without calling.

“Someone sabotaged the Jet Ski and the boat, dumped the fuel, and then disabled the radio.”

“What?” Kalise said at the same time Tristan said, “Who would do that?”

“Someone in a black scuba suit with a mask was on a small boat when we came out of the cavern. It looked like one of theboats we have for guests. I couldn’t even say if it was a man or a woman. We were too far away.”

“No one checked out a boat yesterday afternoon,” Kalise said. “But they often forget to tell us.”

Tristan turned to me. “Ms. Crawford, I can assure you that life on St. Claire is hardly as precarious as you have experienced.”

“I’m fine,” I said.More than fine, I thought. I was floating.

Multiple orgasms.I thought they only happened in fiction. I was blissfully wrong.

“This is just unacceptable,” Tristan said. “We’ll find who did this. They will be fired if staff, banned from the resort if a guest. Maybe prosecuted! This could have ended so much worse.”

Jason said, “It’s okay, Tristan. Really. No one was hurt, though I’d like to know who sabotaged my equipment.” Jason called out to Eli, the boat captain who pulled up beside them. “Do you have extra gasoline?”

“Yes, enough to get you back to dock,” Eli shouted.

“Great. Can you get me fueled up and then take Ms. Crawford back to the resort?”

“Absolutely,” Eli said.

“I can stay,” I said. I didn’t want to leave, and that made me feel all lovestruck and needy. But I didn’t care.

Four orgasms. And one more this morning for good measure.

“Give us a sec,” Jason said to Tristan, then took my hand. We walked to the opposite end of the boat while Eli fueled.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yes, of course I’m okay. More than okay.”

I wanted to kiss him... but suddenly felt a bit self-conscious since we now had an audience.

He put his hand on my chin, made me look at him. “Mia, I had an amazing time last night, even with all the disasters. You’re incredible in every way.”

I searched his eyes and saw truth. He rubbed his thumb over my lips; I kissed it. “It really was a fantastic night.” I sighed. “But you’re right, I should go back with Eli.”

“I won’t be long, but I have to figure out what happened here and retrieve the Jet Ski.”

“I’d like to know, too.” Emboldened by the way he looked at me, and the way I felt inside, I said, “Tristan offered me three free days after finding Diana’s body.”

Jason smiled. “Really? I’ll take a couple days off, and we can go island hopping.”

My heart twisted. “Well, I have to get back to work. I have responsibilities, and I could probably work remotely, but the internet here is spotty, and I need a secure connection because of the financial end of my business. But I’ll plan another vacation soon. Like a long weekend. And... maybe you can visit sometime. If you’re ever in New York.”

A frown touched his lips, and I think he was really disappointed that I was leaving. “It wouldn’t be a problem to get you into Ethan Valentine’s house, if you want to stay and need to work. He has state-of-the-art everything, and, well, I know he wouldn’t mind. I’ll, um, talk to Luis, ask him.”

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